Kansas finishes No. 1 in final Ferris Mowers Men's Basketball Poll after winning national title
The 2021-22 men’s college basketball season is in the books, and the voters in the Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll weigh in one last time to put the final stamp on Kansas’ championship run.
The Jayhawks top the final rankings after claiming the program’s first NCAA crown since 2008. It is, however, the second final No. 1 ranking for Kansas in three years. The Jayhawks were voted first at the end of the 2019-20 season in balloting conducted after the cancellation of the NCAA tournament.
The Final Four participants are in the next three spots, led by national runner-up North Carolina. The Tar Heels were outside the Top 25 heading into the tournament, just third among others receiving votes. Duke, ranked 10th at the start of March Madness, finishes at No. 3 a single point ahead of Villanova.
Gonzaga, the No. 1 team for the last nine polls of the regular season, finishes at No. 5 after being bounced by Arkansas in the round of 16. Arizona, another No. 1 seed toppled in the Sweet 16, also slips four poll positions to end the year at No. 6. Houston, the team that sent the Wildcats packing, lands at No. 7 followed by Arkansas. Baylor and Purdue round out the top 10.
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And what of St. Peter’s? The unheralded Peacocks who made history as the first No. 15 seed to reach the Elite Eight are ranked 24th in the final balloting, marking the first time the small school in Jersey City received any votes at all since Paste BN began administering the coaches poll. Miami, the tournament’s other major surprise team, lands in a tie for 16th with Kentucky.
The national champion Jayhawks head a group of four Big 12 teams ranked in the final poll with a fifth, Texas, finishing just outside the Top 25. The Big Ten had a disappointing postseason overall but still land five teams in the final poll thanks to Michigan just edging out Texas at No. 25. The SEC and ACC finish with four and three teams, resepctively, in the rankings.